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Have you ever had a favorite teacher who inspired you to do more than you ever thought possible? An example of pure motivation during my elementary school years was Mrs. Dietrich my 6th grade teacher. She most likely motivated me to do more than any of my other teachers up to that point. And believe me, that was hard because school in general bored me. Her reading group was more than just a monotonous reading group. We not only read the stories, but she had us make something tangible to represent what we were reading. It intrigued me. I remember one time making a wooden bed and fashioning a little pillow to represent something from a book we were reading. I know that I must have been motivated because I never did homework, until this special reading group. I thought about schoolwork beyond the time I was actually in school....which turned out to not be a whole lot after 6th grade.
Another teacher that motivated and inspired me, even shaping my life for the better, was my piano teacher, Auldine Dycus. She was the most patient teacher ever! She never got upset--not even stern--if I came back without having practiced much, but she carefully taught me all that I was willing to learn under her tutelage. I learned about the circle of 5ths, major and minor scales, arpeggios, chromatic scales, relative minor keys, and other music theory. I learned the 'Moonlight Sonota' by Beethoven, 'Fur d'Elise' by Debussy, 'Liebestraum' by Liszt, and other beautiful songs. But what I learned most was because of her kindness and charity.
I was an independent and strong-willed child during my middle school years. I would ditch school any time I could, despite knowing that my grades would suffer and that I would be looked upon with disapproval. I felt like I'd fallen through the cracks. I wasn't in honors classes and I wasn't on any particular teams or clubs. I didn't have many friends, and the ones I did have weren't really close. So I left. I'd end up at the craziest places---anywhere but school. Sometimes I would walk for miles to Mrs. Dycus' home and ask her if I might play on her piano and practice. She said I certainly could and let me stay there while she went and ran errands. I'm sure she told my mom about it, although it was never mentioned. Eventually I was sent to a private christian school that was out of town to finish 8th and 9th grades. It was a day prep school that had a great choir program. I thrived there. I think I stopped piano lessons soon after that. But I know that it was the kindness and influence of Mrs. Dycus that got me entrance into that amazing school for 2 years. And because piano was never something that felt like drudgery to me, I continued my interest in music and eventually minored in music in college.
Of the two teachers I've mentioned here, I have to say that Mrs. Dycus had the more far-reaching effect. Although both were very motivating, something extra happened with Mrs. Dycus. She was kind. She heard me. She gifted me grace.
